I've wanted to do some inchies for a while, never had a good theme to work from, buttons were perfect

I really enjoyed these, even if I didn't photograph them as well as I would have liked (it was very windy). Yes I did a couple buttons on an inchie on a button! Vintage coat buttons, glad to have found a use for them

I challenged myself to find text already sized to an inchie, all images and text on these came from very small sources, several old matchbooks & even a lipstick container.

So the pelican was out there, just waiting for the sun to set so he could show off. I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple pics, maybe three or four? When we got home today & I uploaded them onto my computer I was mighty pleased with this one. This is a color photo, it is not altered in any way except resizing, just the natural effects of the late afternoon light.Falcon Point Lodge, Seadrift Texas, on the San Antonio Bay. The fishing was quite good too

I have officially been crocheting for a year now. One of the very first things I saw & said "I want to make THAT" was the star blanket. at long last! here it is! Took me about two weeks but that was working mostly in the waiting-to-pick-up-the-kids-from-school time that I get daily.

My hubs asked if the daddy was a Dallas Cowboys fan :/ I don't think so but it IS the colors mom picked.

EDIT: I did the Diva's Alternate center instead of Beth's Little Star center, even with the explanation tutes I could NOT get the center otherwise. I tried the Beth's center about six times, the Diva pattern center I got on the first try. It makes the center star a bit bigger, which affects color/ striping choices if you want to do a lot of stripes, but if you want a large solid center it's no big deal.

I recommend getting into the folding habit, then when you are old like me & Suffering from SABLE* you will at least be organized well for your executors.Here is one drawer out of eight: Yes, they are all color coordinated. Six are large pieces like that and the last two have deep 3" wide hanging folders for scraps under 6" square, also by color. And that is just my cottons. Everything that isn't cotton dress weight is in these types of bins:

And my buttons are in these bins from Home Depot that fit in a box type thingy for easy carrying (meant for screws & stuff)

As mentioned above, I've been at this a very long time. Every year I pick one portion of my crafting & organize it better, use it up, give it away or something so it doesn't just keep accumulating without getting used.

My church does a variety of skits & scenes throughout the year involving children as various Bible characters & critters. Last summer several of our old ones were damaged by mildew leaving us with a pitiful few that never seemed to fit the right animal on the kid who was capable of remembering lines. It was time for new stuff. Eight sheep, four cows, one donkey and one camel, phew! Total cost was roughly $125 in material for just the furry stuff. All the linings were from my stash (the sheep all have polka dot linings, the cows Mossy Oak Breakup).

Challenge #1: make them store-able: no wool, machine washable materials. CHECKChallenge #2: Make them easy for the kids to put them on by themselves. CHECKChallenge #3: make them so any kid can be the animal we need. CHECK

I achieved #2 and #3 by making them two pieces, a hood and a bib with a tail on it. Both pieces are all velcro closures. Even an adult with a small head can get these on. The pictures are from dress rehearsal, but some were wearing their matching tees/ jackets to complete the costume. The idea was to have each kid wear colors to go with the hoods & bibs.

Patterns:I started with Simplicity 9808. All I used is the basic hood shape. I changed the closures to velcro & made up ears and horns for the various animals. The bibs and tails were entirely my own design but I loosely based it on those nice painter bibs they sell for very small children.

Camel and donkey hair:I was pleased with this idea & it worked really well! I single crocheted a row the length I wanted, then did a second row of sc followed by a row of dc. I then zigzagged this strip onto the hood where I wanted it right across my base row of sc. After the hood was complete I cut bundles of 4-6 strands of yarn which I knotted tightly through each space made by the dc.

I think crayon rolls are nifty, but when I try to put one in my purse it's awfully bulky. I'm the mommy, I wind up carrying them.

So I had reason to experiment as there were birthday parties to attend & gifts to be given. Therefore I did crayon wallets! Both have elastic closures (receivers were under age 6, I wasn't sure they knew how to tie laces yet). The camouflage one is just a loop that wraps around the whole wallet. The girls one has a shorter loop that wraps around a decorative button. I intended 24 slots as that was the box size of crayons I purchased to go with these, but I fail at math & didn't quite get it on either one

One for a boy, one for a girl...

Open: crayon slots face the fold to keep them contained while traveling.

I did the camo one first, and was happy but realized I could add a pocket.

There were separate parties, the boy never knew he didn't get the same as the girl. He did get stickers though.